A Step Further
by SpectreontheNormandy
Summary: Sometimes, after a war, a soldier needs someone to rely on. But it can be just as hard as the soldier's exterior.


A Step Further

As her chest lifted, and the hot, fiery air around her roamed and blew around, Shepard's eyes flickered open. Her deep blue and green eyes darted around, while her pupils began to enlarge. She just watched. Above her, the Citadel had gone. It was probably being driven back and repaired. The beam had gone, leaving a dark shadow hovering over her.

"W-what's… going..?" the blonde, shortish haired woman groaned as the words left her lips. It was in that moment she realised how much blood was leaked out of her body. Her hand lifted from her abdomen, and with a heavy struggle, she craned her neck to stared down at her hand.

Blood.

Her hand was covered in blood.

"Blood.. That's my blood- of course. That's a lot of blood." she barely whispered out of her dry lips, dropping her head to the ground. Could this be it? Was this the last of Shepard?

No. It couldn't be.

She could just lay here and close her eyes until help came. The Alliance would surely search for the survivors near the beam. They just had to.

As Shepard's eyes shut tightly, she gritted her teeth and growled out lowly. "Gotta move.. Away from here." she growled. Using all of her remaining strength, the blonde soldier leaned up on her elbows. She took a few deep, quick breaths, before turning over. She held herself up on her left hand, holding her right hand against her abdomen and carefully bringing her knees up. She sat back on her ankles and squinted her eyes, staring around her.

"It's… D-did we do it?" she asked herself quietly. She continued to slowly trace her eyes around the landscape before her, shuffling forward and pressing her hand harder against her abdomen.

As she progressed through the torn street, or at least what was once a street, she stared around her. There were reaper corpses, charred bodies of her fellow Alliance soldiers, Turians, Quarians, Salarians, Humans, Krogans, you name it. Countless amounts of husks covered the paths of the edges of the street.

"What the fuck… h-happened..?" she groaned. Her eyelids were growing heavier by the second. Her head was pounding. "Fuck." she whispered. Shepard had only managed to make up half the street. She could feel all her limbs growing heavy. And just as she was about to fall, to collapse onto the ground and pass the fuck out, a heavy light shun from the dark cloud above her, breaking through the clouds. The speakers from the Alliance SR-2 shuttle sounded.

"Scanning…" a voice sounded loudly. Out of the shuttle, a little camera folded from the bottom. It ran a scan over the area, running directly over her eyes and body. "We have a visual."

Shepard lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the light. It was making her head pound harder. As if she had the worst hangover ever, although it couldn't be worse than when she shared that bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy with Dr. Chakwas.

A deeper voice ran through the air.

"Medi-shuttle inbound."

Shepard lowered her hand slowly, her eyes squinted as she examined the shuttle. The light looked to be flashing slowly and dull. But it wasn't. It was just her eyes and head, playing on her.

The flashing grew duller and duller, until Shepard's body began to feel weaker. Her shoulders felt heavier. She closed her eyes slowly. The blood on her stomach was feeling warm, yet cold at the same time. She slowly fell forward onto her front, arms bent at the elbow and a tiny bit of blood leaked onto the road.

She heard shouting. Then orders. A shuttle landing and heavy foot steps. As if people were running. Her mind was still active, but her body was not. She felt herself be pushed and turned over onto her back, before a hand gripped the chain on her neck with her Alliance ID. It was lifted gently, before a voice sounded next to her.

"Affirmative! We've found the commander! Contact the Admiral and get her the hell to the Citadel!"

She was lifted onto a bed and carried by four soldiers to the shuttle. When she felt the shuttle move off, her armour pulled off her torso, and the doctor apply Medi-gel to her wounds to sooth them, she used every ounce of strength she had to speak.

"Doctor…" she grumbled. The doctor paused his or her treatments, a little feminine chuckle sounded.

"Nice to see you're awake, Commander. " she said. Shepard's eyes opened gently, her eyebrow was raised. The pain was disappearing well from the medi-gel application.

"Chakwas?" she asked in a hushed voice. The doctor nodded, brushing her hand over the Commander's hair and brushing the dirt out of it.

"That's Doctor Chakwas to you, dear." Shepard smiled lazily. "Are you feeling okay? I mean, apart from the fact that you have an explosion burn on your stomach?"

"Been better.." Shepard answered. She groaned and shut her eyes again. "A-are… the t-team okay? Is… Is Joker? T-… Traynor?!" she asked.

The doctor smiled to the commander below. She nodded gently, even though Shepard couldn't see her. Shepard was always one to worry about her team more than herself. "The team are fine, Commander. They were missing for a few days, but the Normandy docked at D24 on the Citadel, and the team are currently helping fix the city up and awaiting word on your whereabouts."

"Oh… Thank God…" Shepard's eyes opened again. "Wait… A-A few days?" she asked slowly. "How long was I-"

"Hush now Commander." Chakwas soothed. "Everything's fine. You'll be taken to the hospital, treated, and you can see your team whenever you need." The doctor pulled and bandage across Shepard's abdomen and used a medical tape on it. She did this a few times, before picking Shepard's wrist up and slowly pushing a thin needle into the vein. She pushed the substance inside, immediately making the commander drowsy and placed a plaster on top.

"We'll be at the Citadel in a few hours. Sleep now." she said, pulling a blanket over the blonde soldier. She tucked it under, before pulling back. "The rest of the group are sleeping. I suggest you do the same. You shouldn't feel the pain for the next few hours, so you can stop pretending you didn't feel it in the first place."

Shepard bobbed her head lazily and felt her body drifting off already. In a mumble, she whispered to the doctor. "Nigh' doctor…"

The doctor nodded and switched the light of the small room off, shutting the panel and proceeding through to the shuttle computer. She sat down and quickly typed an email off to the Citadel.

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**22/05/2186/: IMPORTANT: **

**Commander Shepard has been located. Send word to the Counsel and have a hospital room ready. Docking at 0200; Bay D22.**

**SENDER: _Doctor Chakwas, SI; Normandy._**

**TO: _Doctor M, Hueta Memorial, Joker, SI; Normandy._**

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**((Just a first try. Let me know whether to continue or not. BTW This IS a FemShep x Traynor fic. Any grammar or spelling mistakes are my own. Reviews will help me write the next chapter. First fic, be gentle. Also, any name suggestions for Shepard, let me know. -SpectreontheNormandy****))**


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